Eastern Railroad Discussion > Delair Bridge Question

I take the choo-choo to Atlantic City about 8-10 times a year.
For some reason this bridge always gives me the creeps! LOL
This bridge is almost 120 years old and the vertical lift span is over 50!
It's used by both NJT and Conrail Shared Assets.

I do not have any facts, but I do monitor the two primary marine channels here in Wilm, DE as well as some of the RR channels. My older marine charts show that the vertical marine clearance of the Delair Bridge closed is 49 feet, raised 135 feet.

Realize that over half of the marine traffic on the Delaware River and the C&D Canal too are barge tows, which are usually 'pushers. some of these can clear the Delair bridge. The marine traffic above Delair bridge is less than 10% of that where it is most concentrated at the entrance to the C&D Canal, and that is about 20 total commercial marine vessels per day less than half of that ships. I'd say there are only about six ships each way PER MONTH above Delair bridge, and maybe a few tows. There is a once or twice per week regular move of coal barges from Baltimore rail served dumpers to a power plant at Trenton that is only on the water. Not sure if they require the Delair bridge to be opened. some tugs have collapsable mast towers just to clear low RR and highway bridges.

So my guess is that the Delair bridge is opened less than once a day, and maybe not for several days, unless they do it just to see if the old thing works.

NOW, one thing I'd like to know if this bridge has ever been upgraded by Conrail (and it's owners CSX & NS) to accomodate 286k GWR railcars. In the pre-takeover days it was limited to 263K.

BaltoJoey Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> I take the choo-choo to Atlantic City about 8-10
> times a year.
> For some reason this bridge always gives me the
> creeps! LOL
> This bridge is almost 120 years old and the
> vertical lift span is over 50!
> It's used by both NJT and Conrail Shared Assets.
>
> I was wondering how often do they raise the lift
> span on this bridge?
>
> BaltoJoey

I believe the last major improvement to the Delair Bridge was years ago in the days when US Steel opened their new Fairless PA operation. At that time there were ore ships from Labrador and Venezuela bringing in loads for the furnaces. The plant closed years ago but there is still some import/export activity for other operations from time to time: e.g. high and wide loads from Air Products in the Wilkes-Barre PA area that are shown here on T.O. on a regular basis. If you think riding across the Delair Bridge on a train is frightening, try crossing the Delaware River upstream on the Burlington-Bristol Bridge in a car! As I recall, that's a two lane lift bridge - gave definition to Erector set!

I do not have any facts, but I do monitor the two primary marine channels here in Wilm, DE as well as some of the RR channels. My older marine charts show that the vertical marine clearance of the Delair Bridge closed is 49 feet, raised 135 feet.

Realize that over half of the marine traffic on the Delaware River and the C&D Canal too are barge tows, which are usually 'pushers. some of these can clear the Delair bridge. The marine traffic above Delair bridge is less than 10% of that where it is most concentrated at the entrance to the C&D Canal, and that is about 20 total commercial marine vessels per day less than half of that ships. I'd say there are only about six ships each way PER MONTH above Delair bridge, and maybe a few tows. There is a once or twice per week regular move of coal barges from Baltimore rail served dumpers to a power plant at Trenton that is only on the water. Not sure if they require the Delair bridge to be opened. some tugs have collapsable mast towers just to clear low RR and highway bridges.

So my guess is that the Delair bridge is opened less than once a day, and maybe not for several days, unless they do it just to see if the old thing works.

NOW, one thing I'd like to know if this bridge has ever been upgraded by Conrail (and it's owners CSX & NS) to accomodate 286k GWR railcars. In the pre-takeover days it was limited to 263K.

-------------------------------------------------------
> BaltoJoey Wrote:
> --------------------------------------------------
> -----
> > I take the choo-choo to Atlantic City about
> 8-10
> > times a year.
> > For some reason this bridge always gives me the
> > creeps! LOL
> > This bridge is almost 120 years old and the
> > vertical lift span is over 50!
> > It's used by both NJT and Conrail Shared
> Assets.
> >
> > I was wondering how often do they raise the
> lift
> > span on this bridge?
> >
> > BaltoJoey

Are you afraid of heights? Looking out the side of a coach at the water, could make you dizzy, If you are afraid of heights. It's about 6-7 stories from your vantage point to the drink. This bridge is in good shape compared to a lot of others.